


July Word of the Day Fics

by ThatwasJustaDream



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Community: 1_million_words, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-01
Updated: 2013-07-31
Packaged: 2017-12-17 11:57:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 31
Words: 7,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/867256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatwasJustaDream/pseuds/ThatwasJustaDream
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fics derived from the Word of the Day prompt offered up in July on the 1_million_words comm. Rated T unless otherwise noted at the top of a particular day's fic. Random one-shots until the word 'Pedantic' and from there through the end of the month they'll tell one story... 'cause I can't keep things simple.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Intuitive

At work they communicate quickly, clearly. It’s training - a must.

At home it’s trickier. A simple ‘yes’ from Steve might mean ‘Yeah, I really want to go to that thing.’ Or it could stand for ‘If we really have to…’

Danny’s learned to parse, prod and avoid yes/no questions.

It’s much easier to read his glances. The sideways look that says ‘I _know_ you didn’t just…’ and the sly one full of ‘I caught you in your bullshit and I’m letting it go.’

Danny’s favorite is fair warning he’s about to get taken for a ride. Sans motor vehicle.

Maybe it’s something innate, the eye-reading. Whatever; Danny’s happiest for the gift on mornings like this, when they open a grey-black, heavy and hurting. He doesn’t need to ask about the dreams. Steve doesn’t want to talk about them.

He shifts north and pulls him in, Steve’s head finding the nook by his shoulder, an arm sliding around Danny. 

They’ll stay that way for five minutes or forty, Steve breathing in the scents of his t-shirt, his skin, his hair.

Danny always intuits it, the exact moment Steve will get up, ready to move on with the day.

No words needed.


	2. Intuitive

"I don't envy you, man," the HPD officer handing over the crime scene to the 5-0 nudged Steve with his elbow, eyes staying on his clip board as he jotted notes . “That one’s got a stick up his ass and diarrhea of the mouth.”

“Danny?” 

Steve pocketed his cell phone, glancing over to where his partner was schooling a couple of the cops on evidence handling. Danny’s lesson included loudly delivered choice words, and a physical acting-out of the key takeaways which were that they were idiots and they had fucked up absolutely everything they’d touched.

“He’s very exacting,” Steve said with a small shrug.

“He’s a well-known drag,” the cop said. “Annoying.”

“All in the eye of the beholder, I guess,” Steve started Danny’s way. “Besides, he has other qualities that compensate.”

“Um, sir…” the traffic officer waving cars onto a side road waited until Steve was away to chime in. “You do realize you just insulted the commander’s boyfriend?”

“ _Ouch_ ,” he made a ‘my bad’ face, watching as Steve stopped in front of Danny, hands on his hips, nodding as he listened to a slightly calmer reiteration of Danny’s concerns. “ _That_ all the time? Guy’s even tougher than I thought….”


	3. (Ir)rational

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't bear to break them up forever in a long fic, so....

“It’s once in a lifetime. Right? The chance to run a federal task force…” 

Danny barely heard him, eyes vacant and aimed at the shore. 

“You had to know something was….”

“ _Stop_ a damn second. Okay?” 

Funny part is, he’s the one who’s been feeling like an irrational crap weasel: suspicious, doubtful. Following him. He’d melted into a puddle of relief in that parking lot the other day, watching Steve walk into the FBI offices. Not a no-tell motel. Not what he’d feared.

So much worse.

“Oh, holy shit!” 

The quiet moment only offered up one more knife in the side.

“You’re not going alone.”

“Didn’t tell you sooner… ‘cause I knew how bad this would be.”

“Got that right,” He couldn’t feel his feet, but he managed to get up and start walking. “I’m sure you two will be a huge hit in the social circle. She’s played this role before, so, you know… she’ll nail it. I’m sure.”

“It’s not about that, Danny.”

“Coward,” he waved an arm backward. “See you back at square one tomorrow. Me working for you – not by choice.”

Not for long, either. Thank God.

Danny would never doubt his gut again. Not ever.


	4. Independence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last breakup fic for the month, I promise! But yeah, the word just begs for it.... lol.

His single life habits come back fast: Eating at the coffee table, extra legroom in bed, all good. Weekends free? Awesome, actually.

Work is harder, but they’re pros. They talk only casework in measured, calm tones.

If Danny’s having a hard time he sure as fuck doesn’t show it. Whenever he kids with Kono or laughs at something Chin says Steve wants to join in. Or put Danny through a window. That’d be fun, too. Because cheating on a man with trust issues, then lying about it? If you told him Danny would _ever_ …he wouldn’t have believed you. 

Nothing will surprise him again. 

It’s hardest when they have to drive somewhere together; so close and worlds away. 

“I can’t go,” Steve adjusts the rear view. “This is home. You could. Are you trying?”

The first personal words on the clock since…

Danny huffs out a bitter sound.

“Hell, yeah. Not a lot of jobs out there but got a line on ...”

“Good,” Steve stops him.

“I’m apologized-out, babe. No more ‘I’m sorries’ left.”

“Just let me know. I’ll need notice.”

Steve _will_ note it: The date Danny’s not in his house or his office. It’ll be his Independence Day.


	5. Supercilious

_“Oh, yeah? At least I don’t live in two screwed up houses, with three dads and a mom!”_

It wasn’t only the rude words; it was the haughty, contemptuous note in the brat’s voice and the crushed look on Grace’s face that had Steve out of his chair, ready to run to where the kids were having their beach party.

“Whoa, babe, let her handle it,” Danny grabbed his arm. “We won’t always be fifteen yards away to protect her.”

“Don’t like that Amanda.” Steve muttered. 

“Me either,” Danny shrugged. “But she’s not a druggie in the making or a future serial killer. She’s ... a mean girl. I’m hoping Grace figures out for herself who not to hang with. And I think she just did…”

They both shut up and listened, Danny chuckling and Steve giving a low whistle at the diatribe Gracie unloaded on her now former friend.

“Wow, nice going Gracie,” Danny muttered as Amanda came storming their way, her face a thundercloud.

“Need a ride home,” she spat out, not stopping as she headed for the house.

“Sure thing,” Steve was up fast, tossing her a mock salute she never saw but that made Danny laugh. “I'm all for that. Goodbye and good riddance.”


	6. Mutable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just a sweet little nothing. This version of 'them' I picture as having hooked up pretty quickly after Danny arrived but they're not public with it. Now a date arrives that has him reflecting...

Danny would hate to ever have to tell Steve how one-note he’d initially considered him to be; hard-assed and humorless.

And it’s funny, because 363 days later all he can see is how changeable Steve really is; from flat out scary in the interrogation room, to gentle and patient when he’s teaching Danny or Grace to surf. 

He cleans up nicely when there’s reason, walks tall and gracefully in a uniform or a suit. By the next day he’s back to goofy and clueless, seemingly designed to make his friends roll their eyes and shake their heads.

And Danny? Two days short of a year and here he is, sitting on Steve’s porch on a Saturday, in weekend slacks and a button down. Practically dressed for work. Work in Jersey, even. Has he changed at all? Does he change?

Nope. Not a freaking bit.

Huh.

“Come here,” he gets his fingers around Steve’s lower arm as Steve walks by shedding his gardening gloves, pulls him over. 

“I’m filthy,” Steve warns, grinning, leans in anyway.

“Don’t care,” Danny reaches up, gets a hand around the back of his neck.

“You don’t care if I get mulch … and dirt … and sweat all over you?” Steve asks between light presses, lips to lips, dives in when Danny shakes his head, rewarding him with a long, deep, sucking kiss. 

Dirty and overheated; a sweetly musky mess. Yeah, Danny likes him like that, too.

~~*~~

When he comes by as planned the next day, Steve takes a look at him and then does a double take. Baggy shorts, stylishly casual. Dark t-shirt, nice and tight. Sandals. Freaking open toed sandals.

“Who are you and what have you done with Danny?”

“Stop it.”

~~*~~

Day 365 is a Monday. He walks into the office just like usual. Except he feels butt naked.

“No tie!” Chin slaps him on the arm, ducks his head into Kono’s doorway. “No tie. On Danny. Come see.”

“C’mon, it’s not a big, fat freaking….” He sees Steve standing just inside his office, smiling at him. “…deal. Really. It’s not.”

Minutes pass before they have any excuse to be a few inches from each other, and as soon as they are Steve says it low against his ear.

“Happy anniversary. Bet you didn’t think I remembered? That we met a year ago.”

“Honestly, you’re right. Didn’t think you’d remember at all. But as I’m learning…you’re full of surprises.”

“Apparently so are you,” Steve runs a finger over the open ‘v’ of Danny’s shirt collar then heads back to his office. “Guess maybe you’re getting to like it around here? Maybe enough to stay?”

“Yeah,” He stays put, watches him go. 

A lot will change, soon. Danny expects that's one thing that won't, though.


	7. Nurture

They were having lunch at the diner and Danny was raving.

 _No respect for protocol._. blah blah … _disregard for the team safety_ … yaddah yaddah … _moronic freaking decision_ …

Silence.

“What’s wrong?” 

“Nature versus nurture.” 

“Yeah?” Steve was one part concerned where this was going, three parts sure he wouldn’t get to enjoy the rest of his sandwich while pretending to listen.

“Doris is your mother. Half your genes come from her.”

“It just… now? Hit you? Here in this booth, after all this time …”

“Her propensity for hyper-impulsive decision making? ‘Hey, lets jump in the pool and then see if we can swim?’ I’ve been blaming your idiocy on experience but… huh. Maybe you’re not fixable.”

“What’s to fix?” Steve took the next bite and chewed, but his eyes never left Danny as Danny turned pink with annoyance. “Who’s trying to fix me, D?”

“Aren’t enough hours left in today to read the list.”

“Lunch is on you.”

“Because?”

“’Cause you must pay for saying that. And I’m hyper-impulsive. So you’re paying immediately.”

“Fine,” Danny pushed away his plate. “Now you’re just being a bitch…hmmm.”

“I’d stop there,” Steve said, but now his eyes were dancing, too.


	8. Sprechgesang

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zero insult is intended toward any style of song and dance or those who practice it!

They didn’t have to attend all the governor’s special events, but showing up once in a while helped smooth the waters next time issues arose. The ‘songs and dances of all nations’ student competition felt to Danny like as good a choice as any. It was a big crowd, fancy-dress, but hey - it was all for charity.

“Which nation was that?”

Steve tried to keep his voice neutral, but even he could hear the undertone of ‘and how many more are there on the planet?’ in there.

“That’d be Spain,” Danny flipped through the novel-sized event booklet. “The Flamenco.”

“The Flamenco.” Steve repeated, dead-pan. Danny snickered. “Um.... did you actually check out the web site for the event before you bought the tickets?”

“I did not.”

“So... you didn’t realize it’s a six hour competition?”

“Not until our asses hit the seats, babe.”

There was a long pause, during which Steve tried to remember the setup in the atrium on the way in.

“There _is_ an intermission, right?”

“Yup,” Danny kept flipping pages. “With a juice bar.”

“Ah.” Steve said. "Juice bar. So what’s that they’re setting up for next?”

“Scottish Country Dancing,” Danny recited from the tome on his lap. “Followed by Sprechgesang.”

“And that is….?"

“Rhythmic chanting. Apparently.”

“Danny, If I take off my tie will you strangle me with it?”

“Stop it. Just…stop. Next time you’re picking.”


	9. Obtuse

Danny was on the phone. Furious. Purple with it.

Nothing on the planet tore up his last nerve like Rachel knowing what was wrong with Grace and refusing to divulge it.

“No, my former darling, this conversation is not over. All you’ve told me is she won’t be spending the weekend here, and that it’s not because she’s being punished, or bullied at school, or having a tiff with one of her besties. What I must know is why. So you’ll tell me what’s got her huddled in her room in tears or I’m calling you back repeatedly until you do. And don’t try that thing where you let it go to voicemail every time or I’ll come over and find out for….”

“Oh, don’t be obtuse.” Rachel got the words in edgewise and let them sink in for a few seconds. “What do fourteen year old girls get wound up about besides their parents and their peer group?”

“Oh no. Oh, no, no…. what’s the boy’s name? First name, last name, parents names and occupations, _right_ now!”

“Not until you calm down, and maybe not then. Failing to ask Grace to a dance in the timely manner expected by our daughter and her clique is not cause for his drubbing.”

“Not so sure I agree with you there…”

“Precisely why I tried to avoid the details. But don’t worry, a more terrifying power than an overly annoyed dad is on the case.”

“Yeah?”

“Grace’s friends are conducting a formal inquiry into why the invitation hasn’t been forthcoming.”

“Oh,” Danny stopped walking in circles, his free arm flailing, like ‘wtf..’ “You mean he might just be too afraid to ask?”

“Precisely. Let this go? Please? And by the time you see her next, all you may have to do is listen to her prattle about the dance she’s going to.”

“The dance she’s going to with….?”

“Nice try, Danny. Love to Steve. Good night.”

“Yeah. Will do. ’Night, Rachel.”


	10. Pundit

“I could do that.” Danny waved a hand full of popcorn at the screen.

“Moderate a debate?” Steve’s eyes stayed on the screen as he tossed an arm around Danny.

They’d foregone movie night for the gubernatorial debate because… civic duty. And to see how the boss fared.

“The guy who’s summing it all up. I wouldn’t dance around the fact Denning ruled the first half, then got his ass handed to him.”

“No way. You’d never get that gig.”

“Because?”

“Commercial breaks. You’d have to talk and stop talking on someone else’s schedule.”

“You’re so not getting laid tonight.”


	11. Secret and Deep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Written for the word 'Abstruse' but I like this title better. I had zero hope for this word and me getting along, but I ended up with a 500 word case fic oddly enough!

The woman claims she _feels_ where the missing toddlers are buried. Such a freaking crock…

“You don’t _believe_ her, do you?” Danny asks Steve. “Visions? She’s never _been_ to Hawaii…”

“You're the one who did the background check, buddy.”

“That I did.”

Eliana Tolbert _has_ found missing people …repeatedly.

“She _is_ flying here on her own dime,” Danny acknowledges. “Be nice if she saw shit before it happens.”

“That wouldn’t be nice," Steve says. "It’d be ideal.”

~~*~~

He expects screwy; an incense burning babbler of abstruseness. Instead she’s smart, polite, direct. She sits in the back of the Camaro, wound like a hound on a hunt. 

“Left,” she says. “Drive until you can’t. Then we walk. We have to walk…”

The road ends near Ka’ena Point Park, washed out by a storm.

No, she hadn’t known the history. But she’s seen the place.

“The babies are at the foot of a cliff. Near sand dunes.”

~~*~~

The sun’s blaring as they walk the limestone reef along the shore. They see it from yards away: the dune, disturbed, rocks stacked as cover. Arranged like a memorial. Steve removes a few, and there’s a tiny arm poking through. 

“I cried,” Eliana says. “I was in my kitchen. I’d never seen anywhere so beautiful. Or anything so sad.”

Folklore says Ka’ena Point’s the jumping-off place for souls leaving this world. Danny pictures the girls running together, giggling, leaping… gone. 

~~*~~

“Is there any chance you'll see more?" Danny’s driving them back to town. 

She nods.

“I might. I can’t, you know, stay forever. My family...”

“A few days. We’d so appreciate it.”

She sits in, observes, listens. His phone rings at 2:00 a.m.

“It’s the father. He… _oh_ , Danny..”

“There’s no hurry, is there?” 

“No.”

The girls' father had been cheated on. It was meant to be a double murder-suicide. Now, apparently, he’s found the nerve he lost. 

His body is found right where she said it would be – by the site of the girls’ makeshift grave that he'd dug with his own hands a few days ago.

~~*~~

Danny drives her to the airport.

“I so thought you were a phony.”

“Yeah,” she smiles. "I know." 

“If you could control this....”

“If I could control this,” the smile is gone. “I’d make it stop.”

He nods. 

“You don’t see the future, right? ‘Cause it doesn’t exist.”

“That depends who you ask. The future’s… tough. People hold things secret and deep. It blurs everything. But I get feelings - an aura around someone.”

She pauses.

“You do not get to stop there. Did you see something… about me?”

“No. Your Steve.”

“My.. he’s not _my_ Steve… he’s my boss, he’s…”

“It feels like he has no good reason. Not to throw himself at things. He _thinks_ he's alone in the world.”

Jesus. Steve hasn’t so much as walked fast even once since she arrived. 

“I try. But I’m afraid it’s a losing battle,” Danny says, voice frustrated.

“You might have to try harder,” she’s smiling again, slyly. “You know, get some skin in the game.”

“ _What_ , the?” but he’s smiling, too.

“Oh, c’mon, Danny. Some things don’t take a visionary.”

He hugs the woman he thought was a phony goodbye. Invites her back to visit. 

They owe her.


	12. Precarious

“C’mon Danny. It’s been three days, and it’s not like you walked in on us going at it.”

Not by much, Danny thinks. He replays them sprawled on Steve’s couch, laughing over something, Steve’s hand on the very hot boy’s jeaned knee. He guesstimates another fifteen seconds would have meant substantial embarassment.

“Funny how you go for dark haired women but blonde guys. Isn’t it? And younger. Way. Younger. Looked like a Barely Legal web video in progress.”

“Oh for cripes… are you not as okay with me as you say? ‘Cause honestly, buddy, I don’t even get the cold shoulder from Catherine like this after a simple misunder….”

“No,” Danny says it fast. “That’s not it, I swear.”

“Okay,” Steve is pulling the Camaro into their usual spot, tossing it into park. “Then what is it? Give me something, Danny, please.”

They’re sitting still, but Danny feels like he’s changing a light bulb a hundred yards up on a ladder with ten busted rungs and one bad leg.

“Probably me being jealous. Sorry.” Danny opens his door. “Not your fault you can have anyone you want.”

“Danny, come back here…”

He doesn’t. Can’t. He can feel the ladder teetering.


	13. Retire

“I wish they’d stick around longer,” Kono watches Danny leave the beach bar, disappointment on her face. “It’s not like we get the chance to hang out together very often…”

There are a dozen other friends around, chatting, ready to enjoy the sunset with them, but….Chin gets it. 

“I mean, Steve barely stayed half an hour tonight and that’s kinda becoming the norm. Think they’re sick of our company?”

“No cuz,” Chin kept his eyes neutral. “After a certain point a person just likes to retire early, have some down time. We’re not all twenty-something you know.”

“Yeah, you’re real geezers,” she grins, shakes her head to reject his theory but leaves it there.

Chin hates to keeps any secrets from her, but …he’s not ratting them out. Not dishing about the glances he’s caught between them, so heated and needy and full of cannot _wait_ wantyou _now_ that sometimes it makes him blush and feel a little breathless.

It’s not that they’re incautious – they’re discreet. But spend enough time with a couple in hiding- they'll slip.

It's happening more lately. She’ll catch it herself soon.

He’s sure she’ll appreciate him keeping quiet, letting it emerge as it will. And so will they.


	14. Your tongue's sweet melody...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The word for the day was ploce: The repetition of a word or phrase to gain special emphasis or to indicate an extension of meaning, as in Ex. 3:14: “I am that I am.” Had to go with incorporating an example of ploce in the story, and do a little research into regulation personal armature for U.S. Navy personnel. :).

“Geez, Danno… this is so beautiful,” Steve shifted on the sofa, blinking as he examined the Smith and Wesson 686 revolver. “Must have cost you close to a grand.”

“Yeah, well, I could tell my first birthday present didn’t cut it with you,” Danny dropped down next to him and shot him an elbow to the ribs, just barely. “Wanted you to know it’s not because I don’t… care. It’s… just… I’m still not used to thinking even somewhat romantically about a human being who isn’t a woman. And the result was kind of a lame gift. This is my ‘sorry’.”

Steve ran a finger over the fine, cursive lettering etched into the barrel of the weapon.

_My ear should catch your voice, my eye your eye. My tongue should catch your tongue’s sweet melody._

“Midsummer Night’s Dream. You remembered.” 

“That you love Shakespeare? It’s only the least likely thing about you. And the gun, it’s waterproof and, I’m told, perfect for beach and dive operations. I was thinking maybe you could carry it, you know... when you have to be away.”

Steve was setting the gun down on the coffee table by the time Danny got the words ‘least likely’ out and was pulling him in for a sweet tongue lashing by ‘away’.

“What’s so funny? Steve asked, eyes still locked with Danny’s when they separated.

“I bought you something that makes zero sense to me but it made you all gooey. For the first time since we hooked up, babe… I feel like I’m on familiar ground again.”


	15. Phlegmatic

“Hello, Steve? Is Danny available?”

“Uh, yes,” Steve answered, vaguely. Rachel heard the sounds of a drawer or a door sliding, and Steve rifling through things that sounded like bottles and boxes. “…and, um, no.”

“Have I called at a bad time?”

“No, sorry it’s… do you think it’d be safe to mix a shot of whiskey with Nyquil? You know, to really knock someone out?”

“Ah. He’s under the weather. Your first time on that particular joy ride, I take it?”

Steve made frustrated huffing sound that was all ‘yes’. 

“Let me guess, he’s had you running up and down the stairs all day long for tea, a heating pad, an ice bag, hot water with lemon, vap-o rub, Excedrin, tissues with lotion in them and out to a shop for gummy bears?”

“Yeah, what is it with the gummy bears?”

“It’s a childhood thing. Don’t ask him, or he’ll tell you. At length.”

“I feel bad bitching. He’s the one who’s sick, you know?”

“Don’t worry – when he’s working through a bug and he goes out he is _out_. You won’t hear a peep from him all day tomorrow, I’d wager.”

“Looking forward to that. Listen, I better get back there before..”

“Understood. Oh, and Steve, feed him the Nyquil and save the whiskey for yourself. You’ve earned it.”

“Thanks, Rachel. We’re not ever telling him about this conversation, right?”

“We never even spoke, dear. Good night.”

“’Night.”


	16. Assuage

Steve walks in to the new hot spot in town, right on time. But it’s packed and there are potted plants dotted everywhere and clearly he hasn’t spotted Danny around the bar at the other end of the room. And since Danny’s a pretty confident guy not prone to jealousy, he’s as shocked as anyone. That he doesn’t lean up and wave. Call Steve over. 

That he sits back to watch him, to see who Steve 'is' in a room full of pretty people, alone.

“Thanks, I’m waiting for someone,” he can read those lips, sees him give the hostess a quick nod as he gestures toward the bar and walks that way. 

Notable, because she’s extra lovely with a side order of hot as they tend to be at these places. And she barely got half a glance. Zero sparkle in his eyes. He was all business.

“Hi, what do you have on tap?”

The bartender is _right_ there for Steve, and Danny’s not even gonna let himself comment internally about how the beautiful get better service. Okay, he is a little. But he’s past that now and enjoying the fact that, yeah, the bartender is all winky smiles at the chance to talk to Steve, to chat him up as he’s pouring and, no, he’s not faring any better. Steve is polite, but his eyes are on his phone the second he orders. Then on the door. Back to the phone.

“Looking for a message from me…” Danny thinks, pushes down a guilty wave of ‘why are you being so pervy?’ and starts to stand to head that way but…

“Excuse me,” this time it’s the tall, blonde tourist with the V-neck down to there whose lips he can read, a girl who looks like she doesn’t hear ‘no’ very often. She has slid up next to Steve and is waving a cigarette between her fingers. “Would you have a light?”

Oh, God, do people still try that one?

Now he’s biting back a laugh because Steve’s pointing at the No Smoking sign and the woman’s face tells him loud and clear that she’s getting a pointed lecture on how intensely bad for you smoking is, and hasn’t she heard about that by now?

She’s wandering toward the patio with her buddies, looking a little like ‘did that just happen?’ by the time Danny makes it over to him, still chuckling but also blushing.

“You’re here,” Steve says, and yup! There it is. The particular smile that softens his whole face, that starts with his eyes and takes a couple of seconds to make it to his mouth. “Were you in the…”

Danny watches him realize that no, he wasn’t just in the men’s and he flinches waiting for the smile to disappear. But …whew.

“Ha… Danno,” Steve snorts, shaking his head, biting his own lip. “Were you seriously….like, watching me? From a distance? Not sure if that’s flattering or stalky, babe.”

“I know, I know, don’t kill me. It is. Both, I guess. Listen, I’m human, and sometimes I can’t help but wonder if, when it’s just you, you play back. You know, with the thirty or forty people who hit on you every single day of the week.”

“That’s ridicu….”

“Three. Steve. Since you walked in. Three people. And don’t tell me you didn’t notice.”

“Come here.” 

Steve leans in, his smile still there but something heavier in it as Danny closes the step and a half between them. He can’t not shiver at Steve’s lips, millimeters away from his ear now, at the kiss Steve plants and the feel of his breath against his skin as he goes on. 

“Anything I can do to make you get it? That you have nothing to worry about?”

Yeah, he felt that. Every word. Running through him.

“You just did,” Danny accepted the fingers threading through his. “For the fourth time. Since you walked in.”


	17. Pedantic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fics from here on out in this series are related - need to add a challenge. :). This is where it begins.... with the word 'pedantic'.

“Say it!” Danny can’t believe he’s in this position, having to egg him on. “You want to tell me I’m a pedantic ass who loves my own voice. I know you do, so DO it…”

“C’mon Danny… no. Don’t put words in my mouth. I wasn’t thinking anything like that. At all. I swear.”

They’re in the car, headed back to HQ. The moment is notable not because Steve won’t bicker, but because it’s the third day in a row he won’t bicker. That’s … like forever.

“Well now you’re a wimp,” Danny says. “Because I am a pedantic ass on a pretty regular basis and you can’t even tell me to my face.”

“Not rising to the bait, D.” 

“Is this a real life version of one of those movies, like a spy film, where they replace the hero’s buddy with a lookalike from the opposing side and….”

“You’re assuming you’re the hero?”

“It’s my life, my movie, so yeah I’m the hero. ‘Everyone is necessarily the hero of his own life story.’ That’s John Barth – novelist. And he’s right, because…”

Steve is grinning, clearly thinking it now.. pedantic. 

So, yeah? Why the fuck won’t he say it? 

Why?


	18. Badinage

Maybe they can’t fight, but damn… at least they can still banter. 

They’re all sitting around their favorite picnic table at Kamekona’s when it hits Danny that they’ve been serving verbal volleys at each other for five minutes and Steve is sending them back at him as fast as he’s lobbing them his way.

Their friends are enjoying it, laughing at them and with them and he is, too until... a sharp dart of a warning shoots through him, makes him jump.

Steve can banter with you. But he won’t fight. Won’t quibble. Not even a little.

There’s an old saying in Danny’s family – ‘if we didn’t love you, we wouldn’t pick on you…”

It’s day four of the truce Danny never wanted. He counts back, tries to recall what might have…

Oh, hell.

He’d said something bitter. Petty. Even for him. Doesn’t matter what, he lashes out all the time. But this time Steve had flinched, lips pressing together, eyes averting. 

Since then he’s been himself- professional, decent, patient… 

And not himself – overly polite, distant, cool…

Maybe this is it. Maybe they’re not them anymore. 

Fuck.

Danny’s afraid to ask, even more afraid of what happens if he doesn’t.


	19. Umbrage

“Did I break us?”

Danny has barged into Steve’s office, shutting the door to it without permission, without asking.

“What? Why do you think you…” Steve tries look sure, like a boss, but he looks… tired. Like he knows he’s not even going to get the whole question out. Which, of course, he doesn’t.

“It’s been five days,” Danny jumps in again.

Steve sits back with his most patient face on. 

Danny wants to punch it off him, that expression. Or kiss it away. Or both.

“… uh… been five days since I put my foot even deeper in my own mouth than usual. I’m afraid maybe you’ve taken umbrage. Perhaps I went a step too far and _fuck_ , if I did, Steve, I’m so… so…sorry.”

It’s Friday, and Danny doesn’t want to carry this around all weekend.

“You didn’t.” Steve says it like that’s final, like ‘shut up, please’ so Danny does. “I knew you wanted to take it back.”

“But everything’s different now,” Danny says, his gut falling when Steve just nods.

“It is. It’s not because I’m mad and… _shit_ , it’s nobody’s fault. But, yeah. Can we.. please? Talk later?”

Danny doesn’t remember walking back to his own office.


	20. Bivouac

They each tried to get someone, anyone else to handle the stakeout for them. Having failed, it’s hugely uncomfortable; five hours of them perched on a hillside, staring down at the docks. 

It should feel comradely, like bivouacking. The mood is more like detention - with a view.

“You were right,” Steve finally says, unprompted. “That’s why I’m not angry at you. I may be better off … letting go of it. _All_ the questions. Moving on. Maybe I’ll live better, not to mention longer.”

“ _Moving_? What? I did _not_ say let go, I _said_ lighten up. Lighten up is a world away from…”

“Semi-suicidal control freak,” Steve recites, flat-voiced. “Morbidly obsessed with the past. Those words sound familiar?”

“Sorry. I’ve said _that_ about thirty times this week. I’ll say it another _thousand_ if…”

“You didn’t break anything,” Steve says. “’Cause there was nothing to break. I haven’t built a life here, I’ve spun my wheels. Worse yet, I dragged others in where I probably shouldn’t have.”

Danny knew it was bad but _this_? Three sentences and it felt like the whole hillside might fall out from under them.

“I rant all the time,” he says. “ _Now_ you listen?”


	21. Repast

Danny’s not used to the extra hour a day. Mostly, he runs errands; pick up the dry cleaning, get an oil change. He tries taking a breather at Pali Lookout, a spot that had been full of solace those first months. It seemed to have lost some of its power.

What he doesn’t do is actually have lunch. That would mean sitting down solo. Or with people who were not _him_.

He would have to get over that. 

He would hit a restaurant today, some place new – fresh scenery, a breeze, new flavors.

He _would_ pick the one place Steve picked.

Danny hadn’t noticed at first, was already seated, looking at a menu when he heard that low, earnest voice.

Steve. In a tie. Talking with someone equally serious and similarly attired. 

_Moving on… Letting go…_

“There’s no way,” Kono says when he confides it. “He wouldn’t take another gig… just leave us.”

“Why does anybody dress up for lunch?” He lobs it back to her. “For a date or for an interview. Right? It felt nothing like a date, there was zero sweet and cutesy. Job interview. I’m telling you.”

“Brah, that would be… seriously messed up.”

“Tell me…”


	22. Finagle

“Listen, you’re a straight-shooter. So am I. I’ve gotten you info in the past. Have I ever called that chit in? I have not. Now I am. The fact that it’s… a _personnel_ matter…”

Danny’s on the phone with his contact in the federal building. Good guy. Hard ass, but fair. 

“Listen, it is a police matter. It has a direct impact on our ability to do the job we’re charged with. Right?”

Three minutes later he’s marching into Steve’s office, flipping the door shut hard. He can feel his BP shooting sky high.

“Huh. Déjà vu,” Steve barely looks up.

“What kind of irresponsible… trigger-happy… brain-dead decision making are you practicing these days?”

“Who’d you finagle it out of, D?”

“Doesn’t matter. You need to stop this process now. As in, immediately. You…”

“I’m just talking with some people. Haven’t agreed to anything. I have the right, Danny.”

“All because of a few words out of my mouth?”

“Watch out what you wish for.”

“Are you throwing it in my face?”

“No.” Steve’s eyes are still glued to the screen. “This isn’t personal. Stop acting like it is.”

Washington, D.C. is 4,834 miles from Honolulu. Danny’s already Googled it.


	23. Thaumaturgy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thaumaturgy: The working of wonders or miracles; magic.

“Most people, if they want to change careers it takes time; networking, reworking your resume three ways from Sunday…”

Chin nods from the passenger’s seat, letting Danny go. He gets that he needs to vent. Especially today.

“You or me? It’d be a part time job, the looking. He makes, what, three phone calls and _bam_ \- magic.”

“Bam?” Chin asks. “Sure it’s not just hard work and not some great feat of wonder? Maybe he’s been putting out feelers…”

“Ten days,” Danny’s knuckles are white on the wheel of the Camaro. “… since I suggested his priorities needed re-arranging. Ten days, and he’s on a plane to Washington to talk with a grand poobah for Naval affairs about a bureaucratic nightmare of a position he’ll _hate_ …”

“Uh, a position analyzing and improving training for a whole generation of men and women. He’d be a big damn deal, Danny! And out of harm’s way. If it were me or Kono, you’d be thrilled.”

“Well, sure.. yeah, but…”

“But what, Danny? Why don’t you want him to go?” 

“It’s… I can’t…. can’t say.”

“Maybe it’s time you did. Say it. Out loud. Preferably to Steve, but if that’s too much… I’m listening.”


	24. Canorous

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Canorous: Melodious, musical.

“I didn’t know you could sing, sweetie?” 

Danny sat on the couch in his apartment, coffee in one hand, watching Grace shrug the compliment off. She was on the floor in front of him, fast-forwarding the movie on her iPod to get to the next song. 

“That was… beautiful. Really beautiful.”

He’d like to say he’d heard every note, but his brain had been a continent away ‘til her big finish. That’s when the rich alto in her young voice pulled him back.

“Didn’t know I could, either,” she unselfconsciously flipped herself up off of the floor, her eyes never leaving her movie as she dropped in next to him, head on his shoulder. “We had tryouts for this play and … I won. I’m in it. Next month. You’ll come, right?”

“What do you think?”

She smiled up at him, put her earphones back in and then popped them right back out.

“Danno, do you keep learning things? About yourself? As you get older?” Grace asked.

For the thousandth time in her life, Danny lost his breath a little; amazed at how someone so young could casually ask things so profound.

“Yeah, you do, Monkey. You really do.”


	25. Tenebrous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tenebrous: dark, gloomy, obscure

Danny will give Hawaii one thing – it’s sunny. No accident it gets voted the state with the happiest residents; two hundred and seventy one days annually with at least some sun will help.

So it had struck him how clouds settled in the Thursday Steve flew away for the job interview he still denied having, layer after sodden, blue-grey layer of them.

Friday it rained. Saturday, it poured. Sunday he asked Grace if she’d rather swim in the ocean or his parking lot and loved on the sweet little giggle it got him.

It cut the gloom, at least for a few seconds.

Monday there was work, thankfully, but no Steve. Danny pictured him on a plane flying back. Pictured their HQ without him. 

No one would ever know how many times he’d had to fight off calling him that night, how he’d nearly hurled his phone into a garbage dumpster to fend off the urge.

“Hey,” Steve says Tuesday morning, striding by from the bullpen to his office, coffee in hand. “’Morning.”

Danny watches him sail by without a pause, as what has to be an impending stroke blooms in his skull.

“’ _Morning_?’” he mutters. “ _Seriously_? Oh, it’s so on…”


	26. Capacious

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Capacious: Capable of holding much.

“… freaking _stubborn_ and _irresponsible_. Quitting us as if it’s nothing, like…”

Danny had been in Steve’s face for a while, arms flying. Steve’s office felt like a suite, usually. Now, it seemed more like they were boxing in a utility closet. 

At least, Danny was. He stopped; winded. Steve looked detached, perched on his desk.

“Are you hearing _anything_ I’m saying?”

“Every word,” Steve reached around Danny’s waist, reeling him in. “Come here. Please?”

Danny pulled away for a split second, a reflex. Then he stumbled into Steve as those arms draped around him and … _wow_. 

Steve had hugged him before, but …this time, he wasn’t letting go, one hand in Danny’s hair, tugging him in tight, the other one sliding in little circles over his lower back. It was like being adored on by a polar bear that smelled like Steve, one which he’d very much like to let bend him over the desk.

“What are you doing?” Danny asked against his shirt, annoyed at the shake in his own traitorous voice.

“Making this even more complicated,” Steve dipped to kiss him twice, lightly. “Stop me. If I’m wrong, Danny, stop me…”

He’d imagined this a hundred times; how it would feel, them balanced against each other, hands roaming, tongues sliding.

Danny realized - his imagination? It sucked compared with reality. 

And also that this wasn’t settled. 

‘Cause there was a lot of ‘just in case this is goodbye’ in Steve’s kiss.


	27. Susurrus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Susurrus: A soft murmuring or rustling sound - a whisper.

The rare times Danny thought about his apartment, words like ‘utilitarian’ jumped to mind. It had never been a crazy sexy place, not once.

The reason it suddenly _was_ stopped snoring softly, began shifting. Half of Steve was under the white covers, a dark brown leg flung on top of it and hitched over Danny, too.

“What time is it?” Steve whispered, and holy hell, _him_ whispering, the sound of the cloth rustling as he moved, legs stretching, arms pulling Danny in… even his sheets were hotter.

“Almost three a.m.”

They were eye to eye now.

“Let’s make sure I’ve got this straight,” he ran a hand over Steve’s back as he thought it through. “Either you don’t get the big, new gig and I get a ton more of this, of you, but it’s a you who’ll probably self-destruct trying to figure out the past? Or …I get to picture you happy and productive a third of a world away. And wonder who you’re doing this with? Sound right?”

“Danny… I’m sorry," Steve murmurred. He sounded it. "I know, I….”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Danny started kissing his way down that chest. “At least I’m back on familiar ground. I get ‘can’t win for losing…’ all too well.”


	28. Capitulate

“ _That_ doesn’t happen again. Until we know.”

“Understood,” Steve’s eyes stayed on the road.

“Why even _go_ there if…”

“’Cause I had hours on a plane, Danny; thinking of you. You say I don’t listen - I do. You have… _no_ idea how important you are to…”

“Yeah? You don’t _leave_ someone you care about, Steve.”

The sound Danny got back was full of ‘what planet are you from?’

He realized later; it’s all Steve’s ever done – wave goodbye to home, family, and friends. It’s nothing to him, being thousands of miles from loved ones. It’s … life.

“I give,” Danny stood behind Steve on his beach, watching him watch the water and not turning to say hi.

“Give what?”

“I yield. Surrender.” Danny sucked in a breath. “I love you. I’ll do it from a distance if I have to. Whatever happens, I’ll love you until I…”

He never gets the last word out because Steve is up and wrapped around him and he’s afraid it’ll come out full of tears.

“I don’t want to sit here alone tonight,” Steve said.

“I know. Packed a toothbrush and clothes. I’d say you’re not getting in my pants but… who am I kidding?”


	29. Pugnacious

Steve chilled, then, and Danny did, too, somehow. But things were strained. So it was a relief interviewing the bossiest spitfire of a witness ever; eighty if she was a day, argumentative, bellicose and pissed-off, all four foot ten of her.

“Holy… hell…” Danny burst out laughing as the car door shut. Steve drove off fast, chuckling so hard he had to wipe his eyes. “Have you ever… _ever_ … met anyone like…”

“And she’s a witness for the vic. Imagine her backing the perp…”

“Thought she was gonna whip out boxing gloves…” Danny said. 

Steve almost sobbed with laughter, picturing it.

“She’d kick your ass, D.”

“Good to hear you laugh,” Danny said.

Steve nodded. 

“Come over tonight?”

“Yeah, maybe,” Danny said and Steve rolled his eyes.

~~*~~

“What?” Danny found him by the kitchen counter, beer in his hand, staring at the floor. 

“Oh,” Steve looked up. “Hey. Come here.”

Danny did, nudging him with a hip, eyes trying to read his.

“Heard something from them, huh?” Danny cupped a hand around his neck, thumb making circles by his ear. 

“Yeah,” Steve leaned into his touch, nodding toward the fridge. “Grab the rest of the six-pack, okay? Let’s go talk…”


	30. Plethora

Budget freeze. The words made Danny overflow with… joy, euphoria; a plethora of giddy emotions.

“So the job won’t get filled for…”

“A year,” Steve looked drained. “Longer, maybe.”

He was so busy trying not to shout with joy, he barely heard what Steve said next. Something about ‘you were right’ and ‘too much to ask…’ and ‘just have to keep looking…’

“No!” He dropped his beer in the sand, didn’t realize he was on his feet ‘til he was glaring down at Steve, hands on Steve’s shoulders like he could keep him there. “No way, uh-uh. I forbid…”

“It’s not fair to you, Danny. Starting a relationship when I’ve got so much to figure…”

“Too. Damn. _Late_.” Danny gave him a shake on the last word.

“If I stay… I don’t know if I can change. You know how I get.”

“Six months,” Danny sat back down, grabbing his free hand. “Your here and now will be so full of good things... you won’t have time to worry about what was. Give us six months, please.”

Steve’s eyes were on the sand, and as he looked up to answer Danny could feel their whole futures hanging on that one second.


	31. Propitious

“Hey,” Steve’s voice, on hands-free. Danny heard highway noise.

“You sent me a _postcard_? Goofball. So twentieth century.”

“Oh… yeah. I felt bad. Homesick. You _just_ got it?”

“It was stuck on the seam at the back of my mailbox,” Danny walked into his apartment, flipping the picture of the US Capitol building to read “Miss You” in Steve’s narrow scrawl. 

“Babe, traffic is a bear…”

“Go. Drive safe. Bye.”

Danny got so wrapped up in sorting and scouring the fridge, his front door opening twenty minutes later caught him by surprise. Seemed too soon. Not soon enough. 

“Tape for the boxes. Windex. Floor wax. Was that all?”

“Yup. That will do it.”

Steve dropped the bags and picked up the postcard.

“You must have sent it the first day you were there for that interview,” Danny said.

“Yeah. When I thought I had to run to get away from my past. Like that ever works.”

Danny kept scrubbing.

“Can I take it as propitious you don’t know what today is?”

“Saturday?” Steve pulled him from the fridge, reeling him in close. “The day you’re moving in with me? Tell me if I’m getting warmer.”

“Doesn’t matter.” 

A tingle ran through Danny at the fingers digging into his hair, his hip as Steve manhandled him, putting Danny exactly where he wanted him as he kissed him slow and deep. 

Faker.

He so knew what today was. Six months and a day. And the start of so much more.


End file.
